Tacking - Loss of Speed

[RichH]

John Pollard said it.

I'll say it another way.
To keep the boat's momentum going during a tack is ***NOT TO FORCE THE RUDDER***. Forcing the rudder will cause a LOT of friction with the water and this will decelerate the boat. So when tacking, CONSTANT **PRESSURE** on the helm to turn the boat & will result in less momentum bleed-off'. Dont over-pressure the helm during the tack but keep CONSTANT PRESSURE on the wheel or tiller during the tack until 'head to wind', then returning to the SAME (opposite) pressure when exiting the tack. All this will keep the rudder from stalling, etc. and will keep the MOMENTUM at optimum for the next 'leg'.
The important thing about CONSTANT helm ***pressure*** during a term .... is it needs to be PRACTICED to do it 'right'. So, you may need to do several trials .... with your stopwatch (counting the seconds from entering the tack until you reach max. speed on the 'other side of the tack' to see what CONSTANT HELM PRESSURE during the turn works best for the 'current' wind/seastate conditions. Constant helm pressure during the turn will cause the boat to do an eliptical turn; jamming the helm will produce a constant radius turn which will bleed-off momentum/speed as the rudder starts 'dragging' the turn. Practice, Practice, Practice and then verify again just before the race.
FINGERTIP pressure on the helm during the turn, not knuckles, not palms. Your 'stopwatch' will show when you are doing a 'constant helm pressure turn' correctly ...... it will be a the MINIMUM SECONDS between falling off the highest speed (starting to tack) on the entry leg and back to the SAME speed on the opposite tack. Dont FORCE the rudder.


An 'accessory' to clean/optimum tacking: hooking the mainsail's leech to weather, 'just before' tacking, will allow the boat to 'power pinch' just before and up to the point of 'head-to-wind' - by radically over-trimming the mainsail via the mainsheet. Hooking the mainsail leech to windward will slightly slow down the boat just before the tack but the SAVINGS on the next leg may be several boatlengths on the NEXT leg .... and sailboat racing is a game on 'inches'. 'Hooking the leech up to weather' is like putting down the flaps of an aircraft when going to LOW speed .... more POWER developed for slow speed (acceleration phase) sailing. I start 'hooking the leech' at about 95% of the length of the 'leg'.
With a hooked leech, drop the traveller down very slightly after you pass the 'eye' of the tack to rapidly accelerate onto the next leg ... and slowly get back to 'normal' mainsheet tension and traveller position as you accelerate back to your target boatspeed.

Learn how of 'roll tack' the boat. Do websearch for same.

:-)